Longmont mainstay Bit O' Billiards auctions off inventory

LONGMONT -- Fifteen flat-screen televisions of various sizes. A meat slicer. A point-of-sale system with two terminals.

Everything had to go at the auction Friday for the Bit O' Billiards Sports Bar & Grill, which shut down recently.

With O.J. Pratt of Pacific Auction calling out the lot numbers and bids at a rapid-fire pace and former owner George Blackham looking on, the coolers, the karaoke equipment, the pool tables and furniture were all sold to the highest bidder.

"Lock up and secure your kitchen," Pratt said as he introduced a roll-up retractable window that had been used at The Sub Factory, which was owned by Blackham's wife and had been housed at the business since 2009.

Chris Melle walks past one of several pool tables for sale during the Bit O' Billiards auction at 700 Ken Pratt Blvd., on Friday. The bar and grill closed recently after being told its leas would not be renewed.
(
LEWIS GEYER
)

"If you've got a teenager at home, lock up and secure your kitchen at home. How handy would that be?" Pratt quipped.

The Bit's closing also meant that of the Sub Factory, which, founded in 1979, was even older than Bit O' Billiards.

The Parkway Promenade Shopping Center is undergoing a multi-million makeover and the owners of the property had told The Bit that its lease would not be renewed. Blackham told the Times-Call last month that he had had enough of the long hours and uphill battles against a tough economy, and he was ready for something different.

But for him and some of the other long-timers on hand Friday morning, it was nothing less than the end of an era in Longmont.

Advertisement

"You can fry your own catfish," said Pratt as he auctioned off a deep fryer. "You can fry your own zucchini. You can even fry your own Coke in there if you want to."

The Bit was founded in 1982 by two former air traffic controllers who had been part of the hundreds fired nationally for going on strike by then-President Ronald Reagan.

Dennis Himler came up with the idea that Longmont could use a pool hall, and he brought along Carol Comstock to be a partner in the business. Carol's husband, Chuck Moore, knew construction and he and his crew helped fix the place up.

Moore was on hand Friday morning. He said The Bit started with eight pool tables in 1,800 square feet. Over the years it expanded five times and grew to 8,000 square feet.

"Thirty one years," Moore said when asked to share his feelings. "We opened it in '82 and ran it for 25 years. It supported two families. This is my oldest son here -- he grew up in here. He was coming in here before he could see over the pool tables."

Nearly 50 billiards teams called The Bit their home, Blackham told the Times-Call last month. And many regulars didn't play pool at all but came in for the five-nights-a-week poker tournaments.

Part of Friday's auction were seven, 9-foot, Brunswick Gold Crown 3 pool tables, with drop pockets and 1-inch Italian slate. The first of those went for $1,300. A steal at that price, Pratt said.

"I've sold hundreds of millions of dollars of this stuff and I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen this quality of tables come up at this kind of price," he said.

Article Comments

We reserve the right to remove any comment that violates our ground rules, is spammy, NSFW, defamatory, rude, reckless to the community, etc.

We expect everyone to be respectful of other commenters. It's fine to have differences of opinion, but there's no need to act like a jerk.

Use your own words (don't copy and paste from elsewhere), be honest and don't pretend to be someone (or something) you're not.

Our commenting section is self-policing, so if you see a comment that violates our ground rules, flag it (mouse over to the far right of the commenter's name until you see the flag symbol and click that), then we'll review it.

Boulder is pretty good at producing rock bands, and by "rock," we mean the in-your-face, guitar-heavy, leather-clad variety — you know, the good kind. For a prime example, look no farther than BANDITS. Full Story